Greenville, SC - HDTV - Page 3

Boosters are notoriously bad for causing problems. I strongly suggest you take it out of the circuit...don't just pull the power plug. That will answer your question. Any of the nearby stations, either analog or digital, could be overloading your booster. Also, let me note that the most reliable signal I receive (although NOT line of sight) is WSPA-DT. It is just beyond a mountain range from me.
You indicated you received WUNF-DT from Mt. Pisgah. This station is at full power; on the same tower and higher is WLOS-DT which last week increased its power, but not to full authorized power. It increased from about 10% authorized power to about 40%...or a 400 per cent increase. Are you not receiving WLOS? However, WLOS sends out a very directional signal, with very little power going SW to NW...almost none to the west. That should not cause you a problem.

Also, you might find it interesting to know that under normal weather conditions my two antennas pick up signals from 160 to 245 degrees. WLOS is the only unstable picture.

To all: As HDTV/DT fans, we should be thankful for local stations and their progress in the DT world. I have just returned from three weeks in the Washington DC area where under the immediate eye of the FCC the stations are lagging behind those in this area. Actually, the Baltimore area stations offered the most reliable reception from a suburb SW of DC. Several DC stations published erronous PSIP data. I know...Sinclair keeps promising HD, but their DT has helped solve a lot of problems in this area and hopefully they soon will pass on the ABC HD programming. And generally speaking, we have the cooperation of local Engineering Management staffs, and that is not true in DC.

cpalmer2k:
Call me at 828 281-3588 and lets see if I can offer any specific suggestions. I will be out much of today, but you can reach me by midafternoon.

The Greenville newspaper should have a story regarding local HDTV in today's edition. I don't have access to the paper, but if you have comments regarding the story, please post them here.

Fishman:
The CM 4228 is a very high gain UHF antenna and with the CM 7777 preamp it is very likely to overload the rf section of most receivers considering you are so near the transmitters of several stations. It is my opinion that you would not improve your situation with such high gain rf amplifier. Also, I believe the 7777 is a combination UHF/VHF and that would add more total signal to your RX frontend. That having been said, the CM preamp is an excellent LOW noise amp. Hopefully one of the station engineers or a rf expert also will respond to your question. The question is what is blocking your signal from WYFF's tall tower near Caesar's Head and WSPA-DT on Hogback? I suggest you review your situation on contour maps for the area...it is just impossible to get a signal through a mountain. But there is a possibility for using a bounce...and better for using a "knife-edge signal" from a ridge line. In your case, multipath bounce from the surrounding mountains is a good potential for causing the problem...remembering that multipath (ghosting) is a major problem for DT signals. It could cancel an otherwise usable RF signal on WYFF's channel 59. WHNS-DT is not far away from WYFF and should be a good indication of receiving an usable signal from WYFF. In recent months, both WYFF and WSPA have proven to be my most reliable signals.
I'll dig out some contour maps and try to get a better indication of what you are up against...using Rossman as the starting point.

Re Greenville News HDTV story, it will probably be in the Business section whenever (and if) it runs. I sent Szobody a note asking that he notify us when...

Re Scanning for channels:

I finally figured out a way to beat Samsung at it's game of not adding channels whose signal is temporarily not being received. I usually can receive six DT stations from one setting of my master antenna, but not Greenville's DT 9. Now, I start the scan with the antenna set for DT9, and as soon as approaches the end of the VHF channels, I change the antenna to its normal position to finish the scan. That way I get all available channels to load. It also works when adding DT 25 to channels 30-69...you just have to move faster. I will never figure out why Samsung came up with a design that does not ask before dropping stations' whose signal is temporarily not available.

Re WLOS / ABC:

Still no word on when Sinclair will add ABC-HD to the WLOS lineup, nor when power will be increased again. They were so pleased with the recent gain, it may be sometime before another increase. Meanwhile, both WLOS and WUNF-DT expect to be more reliable now with improved electrical power backup.

Re: Greenville News HDTV story: Here is Ben's response this morning:

"The story was held at the last hour Friday night for unavoidable reasons, but is scheduled to run in tomorrow's paper. That, of course, is also susceptible to change. Thanks for your help and interest.
Ben"

Re WYFF-DT
The signal from WYFF-DT slowly faded away last night, starting shortly before 9 and was completely out 15 minutes later. WYFF's Doug Durkee says the cause of the problem on their end has not been determined.